Social Services To Stay In Downtown Ft. Bragg

Voters in Ft. Bragg have rejected a proposed ban on social service organizations in the town’s downtown area.

Debbie Gibney is a client and staff member at the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center.

Credit April Dembosky/KQED

While it would have applied to a wide range of non-profits, Measure U was aimed squarely at Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center.

The agency moved into a historic downtown building in 2015, where it began providing case management and mental health services to homeless people, with plans to eventually offer transitional housing at the Old Coast Hotel.

The Ft. Bragg City Council approved the sale, but more than 1,000 local residents signed a petition to keep the homeless out of the hotel, a move that put Measure U on the primary ballot. The measure would have amended the city’s code to prohibit social service organizations in the Central Business District, unless the organization was established before 2015.

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A non-profit that helps homeless people get back on their feet recently bought a historic hotel, right in the middle of downtown Fort Bragg, on California’s north coast. It plans to transform the Old Coast Hotel into a transitional housing facility and clinic. But a lot of locals want to resurrect the historic landmark as a tourist destination.

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